"He's gonna know my name by the end"

[JustinD]

Will there be a sweep ? Likely not..........Suns are too good to be swept and u have to believe they will stroke it from three at least one of these games.

So you think that if the Suns shoot lights out from 3 one night, they will win that game and then the Lakers will win the series in 5 ?

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Will there be a sweep ? Likely not..........Suns are too good to be swept and u have to believe they will stroke it from three at least one of these games.

So you think that if the Suns shoot lights out from 3 one night, they will win that game and then the Lakers will win the series in 5 ?

See thats exactly what I am talking about. Oh yeah, maybe the Suns will get hot from 3 and pull a win out of their azz, huh? But unless they have a great night shooting, they have no chance of beating the vaunted Lakers, right? The same Lakers who have otherwise spent the regular season and first round pissing on the rest of the NBA by showing no chemistry, intensity, or killer instinct on a night to night basis. They get a sweep of a depleted Utah team and all of a sudden they are a juggernaut again. Of course!

Such a lack of respect or real knowledge about THIS Suns team by some of these fans. What a joke.

Maybe Kobe will go for 50 one game but otherwise I don't see those clowns being able to defend us.

Suns in 5

 

[D-Dogg]

Conversely Cheech down in LA is saying "Shoot man I haven't seen the Suns play all year, but NO ONE is beating the Lakers. We were 3-1 against them for the 4 games I watched. Not to mention we are THE LAKERS!"

See the difference in the arrogance? You might not be one of those fans, but those are the fans I am talking about. And like it or not that is the VAST majority of Laker fans.

I think you are trying to make ignorance = arrogance. Granted, there is a lot of latter that goes hand in hand with the former. But talk like that above is more of the ignorance problem.

Plashke is an arrogant ***** and pretentious as all hell, however. And he's only being a douche to the Suns because it's not fashionable at the moment to target the Lakers. Otherwise, he pulls the same crap on them when they are lazy...he's a little ball of hate who currently is targeting the Suns. Thing is, a large portion of Lakers fans can't stand the guy and want to kick him off the bandwagon.

 

[LakeShowMan]

To be fair, Ron only remembers his OWN name 83% of the time.

 

[sundevilscott]

Funny. I thought this was going to be an old story on Raja Bell talking about Kobe Bryant.

Ditto that.

 

[Michael]

Thanks for posting!

I loved the second video and haven't seen Amar'e's block on Marion's dunk attempt before. Wonder if that felt a bit more satisfying to Amar'e than other blocks...

 

[Trophytown]

So you think that if the Suns shoot lights out from 3 one night, they will win that game and then the Lakers will win the series in 5 ?

I believe that if the Lakers play their game (nice balance of inside/out) and control tempo, they should win in 5. The Lakers can withstand a hot-shooting nite from Phoenix but only if they match that production by getting quality opportunities themselves and executing.

And i realize its been spoken of repeatedly in the presses but when folks speak of the size advantage, what they should state is that the Lakers have loads of talent in their bigs. Any team can have bigs but if their arent worth their sweat on their jerseys it wont amount to much. Gasol, Bynum and Odom are no slouches for being big. They have a size and talent advantage over lots of teams.

The wildcard for this Lakers team, and every knowledgeable Lakers follower knows this, is Lamar Odom. If Lamar has a big series and by big i mean double doubles nightly, the Lakers are hard to beat.

But im expecting an entertaining series to say the least.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I believe that if the Lakers play their game (nice balance of inside/out) and control tempo, they should win in 5. The Lakers can withstand a hot-shooting nite from Phoenix but only if they match that production by getting quality opportunities themselves and executing.

And i realize its been spoken of repeatedly in the presses but when folks speak of the size advantage, what they should state is that the Lakers have loads of talent in their bigs. Any team can have bigs but if their arent worth their sweat on their jerseys it wont amount to much. Gasol, Bynum and Odom are no slouches for being big. They have a size and talent advantage over lots of teams.

The wildcard for this Lakers team, and every knowledgeable Lakers follower knows this, is Lamar Odom. If Lamar has a big series and by big i mean double doubles nightly, the Lakers are hard to beat.

But im expecting an entertaining series to say the least.

can't really argue with this. the way i see the series:

1. amare and gasol will likely guard each other, and likely come close to cancelling each other out. amare doesn't have the same athleticism that he did back when he dominated gasol in the memphis sweep, but his outside game is much improved, as is his defense. gasol's length will bother amare somewhat, so i think it's a wash.

2. bynum will be a problem. but the hope is that even a subpar lopez can mitigate some of the damage he does. eliminate it? no. match it? no way. but mitigate it. getting 7 and 5 out of lopez would already put this suns team in a much better place than they've been in the first two rounds of the playoffs where collins gave them 1 and 0 most nights. his size and movement will also be crucial against bynum. combine that with bynum not being at full strength and this may not be THAT big of a plus (though it WILL UNDOUBTEDLY be a plus) for the lakers.

3. the small forward position. this one is interesting b/c i think both small forwards may likely guard the other team's shooting guard. i think the suns have to put hill on kobe so that richardson has some fresh legs as a scorer. whenever he has to extend himself defensively he shrinks on offense. and even then he usually doesn't do a great job limiting kobe. so slap hill on him. and that's the end of hill. whatever boards/offense we get from him will be gravy b/c he'll be exhausted chasing kobe.

on the flip side, artest may do an admirable job on jrich. i don't think they'll waste having kobe chase him around the floor when he can rest defensively on grant hill. we can only hope artest loses jrich by concentrating on other players on the floor to loosen jrich for 3's. i think artest's offense actually helps to stagnate the laker flow, so though i think he may be a slight advantage over hill he's also far more likely to go nuts, so i'll rule this match up mostly even.

4. kobe waaaaaay over jrich. i suspect that we'll get one or two streaky jrich games, but kobe's consistency and usual dominance over the suns will put us in the whole on this match up big time.

5. nash over fisher, but not by as wide a margin as we might hope. nash has a tendency to be caught looking inside defensively which may free up fisher for big 3's. also fish seems to physically take it at nash effectively. am i saying that fish is going dominate nash? no way, i'm not trying to be that funny. nash will dominate this match up, but perhaps not as much as we might like. the funny thing is everyone keeps asking, "who are the suns going to hide nash on in this series?" uh, fish is on the floor, so we don't need to "hide" him on anyone. he can just camp out on fish.

so up to this point we see the lakers advantages seemingly far outweighing the suns. kobe way over jrich, bynum over lopez, slight artest over hill, amare and gasol wash, and nash big over fisher. so why is this gonna be a series?

6. the bench play. while the lakers likely have the most talented player off the bench (odom), it could be argued that the suns then have the next 5 most talented bench players (dudley, frye, barbosa, dragic, amundson). we've seen it in the first two rounds, and really all season. the bench offers a much different type of play. gritty. defensive. stretch offensively. and though odom can certainly guard frye out to the 3 point lane, that somewhat effectively neutralizes his greath length. likewise if LO is not in the game, one of the other two bigs, gasol or bynum, will have to come out to cover frye. something they're loathe to do. if frye is hitting (and he not be compeletely on fire to be effective here), it'll open up the paint and amare and nash can then do some damage.

to me the biggest factor is confidence. the lakers obviously have it. they are defending world champions. artest is too stupid to know he shouldn't have it. the refs will provide them with more confidence. on the suns' side of the ledger i think amare needs early success to garner that confidence. he traditionally has a difficult time in the lane against their length. nash is likely supremely confident b/c of his past wars with the lakers. but it's the rest of the team that worries me. i remember frye not being able to drop 3's against the lakers and it seemed to be in his head. i hope his experience through the first two rounds put his head right. dud's doesn't worry me at all. he's a hard worker, confidence or not. jrich might be intimidated by the big stage, but thus far through the playoffs he's surprised me, so maybe he'll continue to do so. barbs' confidence is so fragile that i pray he hits his first two shots.

all in all i think the suns have a legit shot. but the bench is likely going to have to be the collective heroes.

 

[D-Dogg]

Ouchie, I think you are right on...pretty much my feeling on matter.

I think that Odom is going to be in for as much of the time that Frye is in as possible because they don't want Pau stretching out to the 3 point line.

Odom is key to a Lakers series win via rebounds and defense on Frye to not allow those threes to pile up.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Not even close. If you read the article and see the responses to the Laker questions (i.e "little dude" or "I don't know who Frye is" by Artest) knowing the Suns like I do, I think they are going to come out (rightfully) pissed and give the Lakers all they can handle in LA. Doesnt matter if its from Plaschke or Kobe himself. That is going to fuel them. If I was Nash I would drop 40 and 10 on the Lakers and turn to look at Plaschke in press row and ask "Who the f' are you calling 'little dude'?"

Thats not me being arrogant. Thats me seeing the circumstances in front of me and having an opinion on whats going to happen because of it. More like cause and effect.

To further my point, I also have a bet with my coworker that the Cavs are going to win tonight because I think LBJ is going to be pissed with all the negative pub, and eviscerate the Celtics in Boston. Does that make me an arrogant Cleveland fan too?????

Anger does not win basketball games, execution and focus does. Anger tends to lead to bad choices. It makes for fan interest and television drama, but it is way overblown re: its ability to produce wins.

 

[AzStevenCal]

If Odom turns out to be the key factor in this series I think we're in a lot of trouble. Perhaps it's just selective memory on my part but Lamar often seems to play his best against us.

Steve

 

[Chaplin]

Since January 28th, the Suns have lost only 9 games. 9! In almost 4 months. And NONE of those 9 were back-to-back losses. Conversely, the Lakers have lost 16 times in that same time frame.

I know most people will say that the Lakers are now a different team. But how does that make the Suns now a team that suddenly will lose four games out of 7? Since January 28th, there has been NO 7-game stretch for the Suns where they lost 4 games.

Tough series? Absolutely. But even with the Lakers' strengths, it's hard to see how talent-for-talent, the Suns can lose 4 out of 7 games. Against any opponent. The Spur series (which was easily the toughest series) proved that. It's certainly possible, the Lakers pose a lot of mismatch problems for us. But Laker fans don't look at the big picture. It could be ANY team and they think they would sweep or take them in 5. Doesn't matter if it's the Suns or not. They don't respect any team, so it's no surprise they don't give the Suns a chance to win more than 1 game. Statistically though, they don't have much of a leg to stand on right now.

 

[mojorizen7]

Good post Ouchie. Unfortunately i agree with your Nash/Fisher statement......Dragic has to play a more significant role in this series,both defensively and as a scorer/playmaker.

We have to just play our game offensively, but IMO this SUNS team has gotten here because they've shown the desire and ability to take something away from the opposition on defense....Miller and Aldridge......Ginobli......limiting SA's offensive rebounding.....etc.

Trying to take Kobe out of the equation is(as Chaplin would say...)ludicrous and stupid.
Maybe Gentry will trap every LAKERS guard and wing not named Kobe.....
Maybe we'll go after Gasol in the paint w/double teams.....
I don't have the answer's yet...game 1 will be enlightening for both HC's i think.

I don't think PJ goes after Nash initially(although i would,depending who's on the floor with him), many are in agreement that PJ will try to take away JRich's scoring by throwing Artest on him....solid strategy IMO.

The LAKERS don't want to have to go small at anytime during this series in order to get back into a game, or gain some lossed momentum...unfortunately this may be the only way we can get wins in this series. Channing Frye must be sharp,smart and um,[cough] a little gritty during this series....he's the key to getting PJ's big frontline rotations all F'd up.

As was said, our bench has the advantage....but that may not be enough.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Both the Spurs and Blazers had better defenses than the Lakers do, and Nash just picked them apart.

The Suns offense is by far better than OKC or the Jazz. Our defense is weaker than the Jazz, but with the injuries they had, not by much. So, while on paper it looks like a tough matchup for the Suns, recent play seems to indicate their chances are better than it appears on the surface.

Grant Hill's role as a defensive stopper is absolutely fun to watch. The man knows how to D, and he has better physical abilities than Raja did.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Since January 28th, the Suns have lost only 9 games. 9! In almost 4 months. And NONE of those 9 were back-to-back losses. Conversely, the Lakers have lost 16 times in that same time frame.

I know most people will say that the Lakers are now a different team. But how does that make the Suns now a team that suddenly will lose four games out of 7? Since January 28th, there has been NO 7-game stretch for the Suns where they lost 4 games.

Tough series? Absolutely. But even with the Lakers' strengths, it's hard to see how talent-for-talent, the Suns can lose 4 out of 7 games. Against any opponent. The Spur series (which was easily the toughest series) proved that. It's certainly possible, the Lakers pose a lot of mismatch problems for us. But Laker fans don't look at the big picture. It could be ANY team and they think they would sweep or take them in 5. Doesn't matter if it's the Suns or not. They don't respect any team, so it's no surprise they don't give the Suns a chance to win more than 1 game. Statistically though, they don't have much of a leg to stand on right now.

Chap, I'd love for you to be right and we win the series, but just because we haven't lost 4 of 7 (with an NBA schedule that can be WILDLY up and down from one night to the next) doesn't mean this team doesn't face HUGE matchup problems which gives Laker fans justifiable confidence.

 

[Chaplin]

Chap, I'd love for you to be right and we win the series, but just because we haven't lost 4 of 7 (with an NBA schedule that can be WILDLY up and down from one night to the next) doesn't mean this team doesn't face HUGE matchup problems which gives Laker fans justifiable confidence.

I see what you're saying, sure, but I was pointing out more a will to win then just a favorable schedule. And we didn't really have a favorable schedule the 2nd half of the season. Remember when everyone discounted our 14-3 start at the beginning of the season to a weak schedule?

My point is that we just don't seem to have it in us to lose right now, and it's a damn good time to be peaking--and will definitely take the Lakers by surprise.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Good post Ouchie. Unfortunately i agree with your Nash/Fisher statement.......

I'm shocked. Really I am.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I see what you're saying, sure, but I was pointing out more a will to win then just a favorable schedule. And we didn't really have a favorable schedule the 2nd half of the season. Remember when everyone discounted our 14-3 start at the beginning of the season to a weak schedule?

My point is that we just don't seem to have it in us to lose right now, and it's a damn good time to be peaking--and will definitely take the Lakers by surprise.

oh, don't get me wrong. we ARE peaking at the perfect time and it's that will you talked about which makes me think we've got a shot. But jesus, they are a NASTY matchup for us (and really anyone when they're playing well and unfortunately, they are right now).

 

[AzStevenCal]

oh, don't get me wrong. we ARE peaking at the perfect time and it's that will you talked about which makes me think we've got a shot. But jesus, they are a NASTY matchup for us (and really anyone when they're playing well and unfortunately, they are right now).

I agree with what you and others are saying except for one small thing. Are we really sure the Lakers are playing well right now? If they are, we're no match for them. However, sweeping a severely undermanned Jazz squad and a very talented but just barely removed from high school Thunder team is not proof of that IMO. If the Lakers are truly back to form they will win in no more than 5 games but I doubt it would have taken us more than 9 games at the most to advance through their playoff schedule.

Steve

 

[mojorizen7]

I'm shocked. Really I am.

Shot across the bow?
You really should try replying to the post(s).....rather than wasting ammunition on posters who don't share your views.
You missed.

Dragic is a favorable backcourt matchup for us on both ends against Derek Fisher...especially defensively if Fisher finds his role as a SUNS killer.This is my point AZ.....it wasn't a knock on Nash so you can unclench your fist.

Obviously we're gonna need Nash to be All-World in this series.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I agree with what you and others are saying except for one small thing. Are we really sure the Lakers are playing well right now? If they are, we're no match for them. However, sweeping a severely undermanned Jazz squad and a very talented but just barely removed from high school Thunder team is not proof of that IMO. If the Lakers are truly back to form they will win in no more than 5 games but I doubt it would have taken us more than 9 games at the most to advance through their playoff schedule.

Steve

by the Lakers playing well, what I really mean is Kobe looks like Kobe again. With him unhobbled and Gasol being pretty much unstoppable against us, I just see very long odds in this series. More than anyone, Kobe's benefited from a very favorable schedule that the Lakers have gotten, giving up and his injuries time to heal themselves enough for him to be dominant. Then again, if Bynum's injury flares big (and it could and it's already been said that he's not gonna get any better with rest), that could be big for us.

 

[dodie53]

is Frye gonna give a flagrant foul on Artest?

 

[ninous26]

Sacrifice someone for artest.. I mean something like a cheap shot flagrant is something that would cause ron to explode.. He's like a little rasheed with his temper. Something to get him suspended.

 

[D-Dogg]

is Frye gonna give a flagrant foul on Artest?

What would be the point in that?

 

[ninous26]

Post #48 donald. suspension